Advice
by ameo
Summary: oneshot: Mum, can I ask you a question? It's about a girl.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Harry Potter. :)

Advice  
written by **ameo**

Mrs. Potter was sitting at the kitchen table reading the latest gossip magazine when her son walked in with his hands playing with each other at his navel. Her thoughts flashed briefly to when he was just a baby sixteen years earlier, how he always got into everything he could manage when he was a toddler—and how just recently he received a detention for playing a prank on a student with his best friend. Smiling to herself, she sat up straighter.

"Hey James," she tilted her head to the side. "What's the matter, sweetie?"

She watched as her son sighed and ran a hand through his already messy hair before sitting down at the table. "Oh, nothing, Mum," he said, she knew it to be his habitual answer. There was something more, she was sure of that now—Mother's Intuition.

"Alright then." She said and went back to her gossip magazine. Without even reading the words on the page she waited for him to burst with the news she expected him to tell her any second.

"Mum?"

She held back a grin, not even ten seconds…she was sure that was some sort of record for him.

"Yes, dear?"

"Can I ask you something?" he was leaning forward with his elbows resting on the table and his head resting in his hands.

"I'm not getting you out of detention, if that's what you're getting to," she replied curtly.

James smirked for a brief moment, amusement dancing in his brown eyes before settling back into a calm puddle of mud. "Nah, we already finished that detention," he leaned back in the chair now, stretching his legs out as far as they could reach. "We just had to clean the professor's lounge this time, not too bad." He stared off into space, thinking; probably thinking about the even worse detentions he and his best friend had endured long before this one, she supposed with amusement.

"I was wondering if you could give me some advice," he continued slowly, as if he were too embarrassed to even think about asking. "About…about a girl."

Mrs. Potter's head snapped up to look at him. She was grinning now. "A girl, you say?"

"Not just a girl, Mum, she's _the _girl!" James suddenly exclaimed, already pleased that she caught on with his words. His eyes brightened with such enthusiasm that she wondered if he was talking about a potential prank to tell his best friend next time he saw him, had she not known he was talking about a girl.

"Well, what's her name?" she was interested now.

"Lily is the most amazing girl I've ever set eyes on—every single day she eats a blueberry muffin for breakfast—don't ask me how I know, I just do—and she always does her schoolwork first before hanging out with friends…Mum, she tutors the younger years because she _wants to_, do you have any idea how simply fantastic she is? I wish she would tutor _me_, but I'm just so good at everything..." he shrugged. "Anyway, Lily is the most perfect girl I've ever met in my life."

Mrs. Potter raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you say that about Samantha-what's-her-name a couple months ago?"

James groaned. "Muuuuummmm, that was months ago! And Samantha never made me feel the way I feel about Lily now! Lily is just…perfect."

"So how long have you been dating Lily, James?" she asked.

His face fell, and he buried his face in his hands, tilting his glasses away from his eyes. "That's sort of the problem, Mum." He said into his hands. "We're not exactly…dating."

The answer seemed simple to her, really. "Why don't you ask her out, then?" she said matter-of-factly.

James looked up at her, his facial expression slightly amused. "I have," he said. "Every single day." He admitted. "And she always says no!"

Mrs. Potter looked at her son carefully before speaking. "James, I don't mean to be frank, but…" she said slowly. "I'm afraid she might not like you if she continues to say no."

"But that's just the thing, Mum!" he continued on, as if expecting her to say this, as if he had already heard this a thousand times. "Lily says no because she likes me, it's the perfect theory I have. She's afraid to say yes because then I might not be around to compliment her on how beautiful she 

looks or congratulate her on the essay we got back once she says yes and then we don't work out or something." He finished.

She folded her arms across her chest. "And where did you come up with this theory?" she asked, amused.

James shrugged. "So what should I do? Mum, this girl is perfect, she's just amazing." He smiled goofily before shaking it off.

Mrs. Potter wasn't sure what to say to that. She of course wanted her son to be happy, but this girl Lily sounded like she definitely did not want to date him. But then again, James did have a good theory, and he was the best man she knew besides his father.

"I think you should ask your father about this," she said. "He's dated far more girls than I have, of course, I haven't dated any girls, but that's not really the point is it…"

"He said I should ask you," James replied. "and that you're smarter than him." He grinned.

Mrs. Potter sighed and smiled back. "Why don't you stop asking Lily out, then? Just for a little while," she added hurriedly upon seeing James's look of disbelief. "See if she misses your requests, and then go for it later."

Silence. She wondered what he was thinking. His chin rested in his right hand as he thought, his glasses were falling off his nose, and his hair looked like he didn't even comb it this morning. Finally, he opened his mouth. "I think that's a great idea, Mum." He said, getting up from his chair. "I'll see you."

Mrs. Potter didn't know who this Lily girl was, but she hoped she was just as amazing as James said she was. She was going to need it, Mrs. Potter thought with an amused smirk as she picked up her gossip magazine and began to read.


End file.
